Russian borrowings in english language

      kolinsky NOUN: Inflected forms: pl. kolinskies 1. A northern Eurasian mink (Mustela siberica) having a dark brown coat with tawny markings. 2. The fur of this animal. ETYMOLOGY: Russian kolinski, of Kola, from Kola, Kola Peninsula. (The Am-erican Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, http://www.bartleby.com-/61/95/K0099500.html). Ex.:

      Kolinsky - The finest sable, they are ideal for watercolor. The best hairs come from Siberian Kolinsky. (Colburn, http://www.creativecauldron.com/article-Brushes.shtml)

      Main Entry: kolkhoz Function: noun. Inflected Form(s): plural kolkhozy or kolkhozes Etymology: Russian, from kollektivnoe khozyaistvo ‘collective farm’. Date: 1921: ‘a collective farm of the U.S.S.R’ (Merriam-Webster, http://www.-m-w.com/home.htm). Ex.:

      In 14 % of the cases collectives within the kolkhoz distributed the shares to those worthy of it, i.e. hardworking members of the kolkhoz (Eckert. Elwert, http://-www.gtz.de/orboden/eckert/eck2_3.htm ).

      Main Entry: Komsomol Function: noun. Etymology: Russian, from Kommunisticheskii Soyuz Molodezhi, ‘Communist Union of Youth’. Date: 1925: a Russian Communist youth organization’ (Merriam-Webster, http://www.mw.com/-home.htm). Ex.:

      The Party has prescribed a certain amount of responsibility to the Komsomol, but it is questionable as to how much political influence is vested there (Minich, http://www.minich.com/portfolio/Komsomol.html).

      Main Entry: kopeck Variant(s): or kopek Function: noun. Etymology: Russian kopeika. Date: 1698 – see ruble at MONEY table (Merriam- Webster, http://-www.mw.com/home.htm). Ex.:

      They were issued in six standard denominations: 10, 25 and 50 kopecks and 1, 5 and 10 roubles.

        (Hoge, http://www.money.org/sealskin2.html)

      Main Entry: kvass Function: noun. Etymology: Russian kvas. Date: circa 1553: ‘a slightly alcoholic beverage of eastern Europe made from fermented mixed cereals and often flavored’ (Merriam- Webster, http://www.m-w.com/home.htm). Ex.:

      The beverage enjoyed by Muscovites, other city dwellers and villagers throughout Russia is kvass, a lacto-fermented beverage made from stale rye bread (Fallon, http://www.westonaprice.org/foodfeatures/kvass.htm)

      Main Entry: Leninism Function: noun. Date: 1918: ‘the political, economic, and social principles and policies advocated by Lenin; especially : ‘the theory and practice of communism developed by or associated with Lenin’ – Leninist noun or adjective – Leninite noun or adjective (Merriam-Webster, http://-www.m-w.com/home.htm) Ex.:

      While Marxists may find Taber’s book useful, anarchists no doubt would extend and sharpen his critique of Leninism. (O’Connor, http://library.nothingness-.org/articles/all/en/display/366)

      Main Entry: mammoth. Function: noun. Etymology: Russian mamont, mamot. Date: 1706. 1: ‘any of a genus (Mammuthus) of extinct Pleistocene elephants distinguished from recent elephants by highly ridged molars, usually large size, very long tusks that curve upward, and well-developed body hair’. 2: ‘something immense of its kind <the company is a mammoth of the industry’. (Merriam-Webster, http://www.m-w.com/home.htm). Ex.:

      …maybe the day will come when our grandchildren will be able to see a living mammoth at their local zoo ( Eschberger, http://www.suite101.com/-article.cfm/paleontology/69777)

      Author of the mammoth ‘Ain’t Nobody’s Business if You Do. (Vices and Victimless Crimes’. http://www.free-market.net/directorybytopic/consensual/)

      Main Entry: Menshevik Function: noun. Inflected Form(s): plural Mensheviks or Mensheviki. Etymology: Russian men’shevik, from men’she’ less; from their forming the minority group of the party’. Date: 1907: ‘a member of a wing of the Russian Social Democratic party before and during the Russian Revolution believing in the gradual achievement of socialism by parliamentary methods in opposition to the Bolsheviks’; – Menshevism noun – Menshevist noun or adjective (Merriam- Webster, http://www.m-w.com/home.htm). Ex.:

      The Mensheviks, along with the other revolutionary groups, were defeated by the Bolsheviks…(the Oxford English Reference Dictionary, http://www.xrefer.-com/entry/408591)

      Main Entry: muzhik Function: noun. Etymology: Russian. Date: 1568: ‘a Russian peasant’ (Merriam-Webster, http://www.m-w.com/home.htm). Ex.:

      Out of a mob of muzhiks repressed by feudal slavery of accursed memory, this revolution created, for the first time in Russia, a people beginning to understand its rights…(Lenin, http://www.marx2mao.org/Lenin/FADS11.html).

      Main Entry: oblast Function: noun. Inflected Form(s): plural oblasts also oblasti Etymology: Russian oblast’. Date: circa 1886: ‘a political subdivision of Imperial Russia or of a republic in the U.S.S.R’. (Merriam-Webster, http://www.m-w.com/home.htm). Ex.:

      ‘ST Peterburg and Leningrad Oblast Inwestment Laws – Update’ (Kim, http://www.bisnis.doc.gov/bisnis/country/9911stpete.Htm).

      Main Entry: paulownia Function: noun Etymology: New Latin, from Anna Pavlovna died 1865 Russian princess. Date: 1843: ‘any of a genus (Paulownia) of Chinese trees of the snapdragon family; especially : one (P. tomentosa) widely cultivated for its panicles of fragrant violet flowers’ (Merriam-Webster, http://-www.m-w.com/home.htm). Ex.:

      Advance Investments says paulownia trees originated in East Asia and are cultivated in Australia and the United States. (Tankersley, http://www.ruralnews-.co.nz/article.asp?channelid=55&articleid=1229)

      Main Entry: perestroika Function: noun. Etymology: Russian perestroika, literally, ‘restructuring’. Date: 1986: t’he policy of economic and governmental reform instituted by Mikhail Gorbachev in the Soviet Union during the mid-1980s’ (Merriam-Webster, http://www.m-w.com/home.htm). Ex.:

      What many fail to realize is that the policies of Glasnost-Perestroika …are rooted in and derive sustenance from Marxist-Leninist ideology (Montgomery,Farrell,http://www.newsmax.com/commentmax/print.shtml?a=2001/10/1/143126)

      pirozhki VARIANT FORMS: also piroshki; PLURAL NOUN: ‘Small Russian pastries filled with finely chopped meat or vegetables, baked or fried’. ETYMOLOGY: ‘Russian, pl. of pirozhok, diminutive of pirog, dumpling’ (the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, http://www.bartleby.-com/61/80/P0328000.html). Ex.:

      The event itself features traditional Russian cuisine such as pirojki, borsch, and blini (Davis, http://dana.ucc.nau.edu/~ogse-p/archives/Oct98/news6.html

       Main Entry: podzol Variant(s): also podsol. Function: noun. Etymology: Russian. Date: 1908: ‘any of a group of zonal soils that develop in a moist climate especially under coniferous or mixed forest and have an organic mat and a thin organic-mineral layer above a light gray leached layer resting on a dark illuvial horizon enriched with amorphous clay’ – podzolic adjective (Merriam-Webster, http://www.m-w.com/home.htm). Ex.:

      Podzol. A zonal soil that occurs in the taiga or boreal forest regions of the world, where winters are cold, summers are relatively short, and the yearly rainfall between 500 and 800 mm… (Oxford Paperback Encyclopedia, http://www.-xrefer.com/entry/222054)

      Politburo noun: Inflected forms: pl. politburos. ‘The chief political and executive committee of a Communist party.’ Etymology: Russian, contraction of Polit(icheskoe) Byuro, ‘political bureau-. (Merriam-Webster, http://www.mw.-com/home.htm). Ex.:

      In instituting these reforms Gorbachev, the Politburo…did not depart from basic tenets of Marxist-Leninist ideology (Montgomery, Farrell, http://www.news-max.com/commentmax/print.shtml?a=2001/10/1/143126).

      Main Entry: polynya Function: noun. Inflected Form(s): plural polynyas also polynyi . Etymology: Russian polyn’ya. Date: 1853: ‘an area of open water in sea ice’ (Merriam-Webster, http://www.m-w.com/home.htm). Ex.:

      Coastal polynyas characteristically lie just beyond landfast ice…( Encyclopedia Britannica, http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?eu=62257)

      Main Entry: pood Function: noun. Etymology: Russian pud, from Old Russian, from Old Norse pund ‘pound’ -- more at POUND. Date: 1554: ‘a Russian unit of weight equal to about 36.11 pounds (16.38 kilograms) (Merriam-Webster, http://www.m-w.com/home.htm). Ex.:

      I can fully military press a 1.5 pood kettlebell but I cannot press a 2 pood KB (Culver, http://www.dragondoor.com/cgi-bin/articles.pl?rm=mode2&articleid=19)

      ruble VARIANT FORMS: also rouble NOUN: See table at currency. ETYMOLOGY: Russian rubl’, from Old Russian rubl, ‘cut,’ ‘piece’ (probably originally a piece cut from a silver bar), from rubiti, ‘to chop’, ‘hew’ (the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, http://www.bartleby.com/61/60/R0336000.-html). Ex.:

      The conversion of billions of dollars into rubles has expanded the domestic supply of base money (Bernstam. Rabushka, A. http://www.russianeconomy.-org/comments/062101.html)

      samarskite NOUN: A velvet-black mineral that is a complex mixture of several rare-earth metals with niobium and tantalum oxide. ETYMOLOGY: After Col. M. von Samarski, 19th-century Russian mining official (the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, http://www.bartleby.com/61/35/S0053500.html). Ex.:

      The remaining minerals are listing according the group to which they belong…OXIDES: cerianite, chlorite, fourmarierite, hornblende…microlite, rutile, samarskite-(Y)…

      (Werner,http://www.nags.net/Nags/english/articles_werner/evje/ive-land-_pegmatite_district.htm).

      Main Entry: samizdat Function: noun. Etymology: Russian, from sam- self- + izdatel’stvo ‘publishing house’. Date: 1967: ‘a system in the U.S.S.R. and countries within its orbit by which government-suppressed literature was clandestinely printed and distributed; also : such literature.’ (Merriam-Webster, http://www.m-w.com/home.htm). Ex.:

      The catalogue begins with the legendary forefather of samizdat …Nikolai Glazkov, and continues with the Liyanozovo poets Evgenii Kropivnitskii, Vsevolod Nekrasov, Igor’ Kholin, and Genrikh Sapgir. (Uffelmann, http://www.-artmargins.com/content/review/praeprintium.html)

      Samovar NOUN: ‘A metal urn with a spigot, used to boil water for tea and traditionally having a chimney and heated by coals.’ ETYMOLOGY: Russian: samo, self; see sem-1 in Appendix I + varit’, ‘to boil’. (the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. http://www.-bartleby.com/61/57/S0055700-.html). Ex.:

      The first samovars are thought to have been used for preparing tisanes of herbs, and only later became almost exclusively used for tea

      (Atam,S.http://www.byegm.gov.tr/yayinlarimiz/NEWSPOT/1998/Jan/N4.htm)

      Main Entry: Samoyed Variant(s): also Samoyede Function: noun. Etymology: Russian samoed Date: 1589. 1: ‘a member of any of a group of peoples inhabiting the far north of European Russia and parts of northwestern Siberia’. 2: ‘the family of Uralic languages spoken by the Samoyed people’. 3: ‘any of a Siberian breed of medium-sized white or cream-colored sled dogs’. – Samoyed adjective – Samoyedic adjective (Merriam-Webster, http://www.m-w.com/home.htm) Ex.:

      The Samoyed people lived a seminomadic life as reindeer herders (Dannen, K. Dannen, D, http://www.samoyed.com/TheSamoyed.htm)

      This language group includes Finnish, Lapp, Estonian, Magyar (Hungarian) and Samoyed (Devlin, http://www.winged-horse.com/archives/Language.htm)

      Though the Samoyed may look to some like an overgrown stuffed toy, this is a rugged working breed (Dannen, K. Dannen, D. The Samoyed. http://www-.samoyed.com/TheSamoyed.htm)

      sastruga VARIANT FORMS: also zastruga (  z-strg, zä-) NOUN: Inflected forms: pl. sastrugi (-g) ‘A long wavelike ridge of snow, formed by the wind and found on the polar plains.’ ETYMOLOGY: Russian dialectal zastruga: za, ‘beyond’ + struga, ‘deep place into which one may fall’ (sastruga. the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language,. http://www.bartleby.com/61/54/S0095400.html). Ex.:

      “sastruga,” for instance, refers to a wind-shaped ridge of snow, sort of an elongated snow dune

       (Hartman, http://www.kith.org/logos/words/lower/w.html)

      seecatch NOUN: Inflected forms: pl. seecatchie (-kch) ‘The adult male fur seal of Alaska’. ETYMOLOGY: Russian sekach, from sech’, ‘to cut’ (seecatch. the American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language,.http://www.bartleby.-com/61/36/S0213600.html). Ex.:

      Seecatch: A Story of a Fur Sale. (Used Book Central, Link).

      Main Entry: sierozem Function: noun. Etymology: Russian serozem, from seryi ‘gray’ + zemlya ‘earth’; akin to Latin humus ‘earth’ -- more at HUMBLE. Date: 1934: ‘any of a group of zonal soils brownish gray at the surface and lighter below, based in a carbonate or hardpan layer, and characteristic of temperate to cool arid regions.’ (Merriam-Webster, http://www.m-w.com/home.htm). Ex.:

      To these soils belong mountain - forestry, where loss formed 16,5% and meadow-serozem (Movsumov, http://www.toprak.org.tr/isd/isd_30.htm) 

      Main Entry: soviet Function: noun. Etymology: Russian sovet ‘council’, ‘soviet’. Date: 1917. 1: ‘an elected governmental council in a Communist country’. 2 plural, capitalized a: BOLSHEVIKS b: ‘the people and especially the political and military leaders of the U.S.S.R.’ – soviet adjective, often capitalized – soviet·-ism noun, often capitalized (Merriam-Websteer, http://www.m-w.com/home-.htm). Ex.:

      Soviets and Factory Committees in the Russian Revolution (Rachleff, http://www.geocities.com/~johngray/raclef.htm)

      The Soviets thus proved that life in space was possible. (Lawrence, http://www.-excaliburelectronics.com/space030101.htm

      Main Entry: sovkhoz Function: noun. Inflected Form(s): plural sovkhozy or sovkhozes. Etymology: Russian, short for sovetskoe khozyaistvo ‘soviet far’. Date: 1921: ‘a state-owned farm of the U.S.S.R. paying wages to the workers’. (Merriam-Webster, http://www.m-w.com/home.htm). Ex.:

      The sovkhoz-state farm-in Butrimonys gave her an apartment and work.( Niklewicz, .http://www.warsawvoice.pl/v444/neighbors.html)

      Main Entry: sputnik Function: noun. Etymology: Russian, literally, ‘traveling companion’, from s, so ‘with’ + put’ ‘path’. Date: 1957: ‘a manufactured object or vehicle intended to orbit the earth, the moon, or another celestial body’. (Merriam-Webster, http://www.m-w.com/home.htm). Ex.:

      Recently declassified documents reveal that it would be difficult to overstate the impact of the Soviet’s launch of Sputnik on the U.S. space program

      (Johnson,http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/political_economy/20255)

      starets NOUN: Inflected forms: pl. startsy ( stärts) ‘A spiritual adviser, often a monk or religious hermit, in the Eastern Orthodox Church.’ ETYMOLOGY: ‘Russian, elder’, starets, from Old Church Slavonic starts, ‘elder’, from star, ‘old’. (the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, .http://www.bartleby.-com/61/97/S0709700.html). Ex.:

      “Do you want to hear what the special method of praying was that the starets told him about?” she asked. “( Salinger, http://www.ralphmag.org/staretsZM.html)

      stishovite NOUN: ‘A dense tetragonal polymorph of quartz that is formed under great pressure and is often associated with meteoroid impact.’ ETYMOLOGY: After Sergei Mikhailovich Stishov (born 1937), Russian mineralogist. (the Am-erican Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language http://www.bartleby-.com/61/60/S0766000.html). Ex.:

      If there is an additional amount of pure silica, in the high-pressure form of quartz known as SiO2 stishovite, the seismic velocities will be faster (Wysession, http://www.sigmaxi.org/amsci/articles/95articles/Wysession-full.html).

      sterlet NOUN: A sturgeon (Acipenser ruthenus) of the Black and Caspian seas, used as a source of caviar. ETYMOLOGY: Russian sterlyad’, from Old Russian sterlyagi, of Germanic origin. (the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language,. http://www.bartleby.com/61/56/S0745600.html). Ex.:

      Sterlets are true sturgeons, a primitive group of fishes (Sterlet, http://www.-aquariacentral.com/fishinfo/cold/sterlet.htm)

      Main Entry: taiga Function: noun. Etymology: Russian taiga. Date: 1888: ‘a moist subarctic forest dominated by conifers (as spruce and fir) that begins where the tundra ends.’ (Merriam-Webster, http://www.m-w.com/home.htm). Ex.:

      ‘Canadian indigenous groups have announced their support for the Taiga Rescue Network (TRN), a new global network dedicated to protecting forests outside the tropics…’

      (Chatterjee, http://nativenet.uthscsa.edu/archive/nl/9408/0251.html)